| Author |
Comment |
John Blacet
(9/4/01 2:48:14 pm)
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Owens
Trip - 8/31-9/3
Showing up for another bout with the mother of all HG sites were
Kurt (with daughter Kimberly), John B (with new Ford Focus ZX3),
Vince (with Nany, dogs and cool new tent camper), Matt, Ernie, Steve
Acton (who lived in the area 12 years), Bob Stanley, Bob Kanick (from
Daly City, flying a Litespeed, on his first Sonoma Wings outing),
Rich Sauer (and the whole
family).
Friday was OK if a bit rough in the air. I bailed
early but a bunch of folks made it to Bishop. Crossing was a problem
due to low altitudes. Bob S made it up route 6 for 75.8 miles; thus
giving up his sportsman status (congrats Bob!) Later, we ate Chinese
food in Bishop (yummm!).
Saturday we got up early and beat it
to launch to secure a place to set up. Later, I counted 46 set up
gliders and a bunch still in the bag! Fortunately, launch condx were
OK, except for the guy who launched after me and proceeded to scrape
a tip and do a 180 back into the hill as I watched from above. His
glider was damaged, but he was OK (I heard).
The air was
less turbulent but altitudes were still down below 14K. My O2
snapped a flowmeter fitting before launch so I had to jury rig the
system. I was tired, so I used up the supply as I flew. Bailed into
my lovely Aberdeen LZ after 37 miles. Had a great time. A lot of our
group got to Bishop. I heard later that someone made it on to the
Whites but no details. We had Mexican food in Lone Pine (pretty
good).
Sunday we got to Walt's and it was blowing down. After
a bit, we decided to go to Mazurka. Later, Steve influenced us to
consider Paiute. Most of us had never been there, so off we went. Nice
site, good launch and LZ. The road up was scary in a couple spots. Everyone
decided they would rather fly down!
We launched about 2:30/3
into nice cycles and everyone in our group got up easily. Pretty
soon, I found myself over the Whites, which was a new experience.
What terrain! The Sierras are interesting but in a different way.
The Whites are so variegated in color and texture! I worked up to
Boundary and around to Montgomery Pass where I started to get low.
Caught a little thermal on the way to the pass and a much bigger one
near the pass. Voila! -- into Nevada. Flew north up 360 a little
behind everyone else. Rich Sauer was of course goin' like a bat
outta hell.
Started to get low and had the chase guys (thanks
Ernie and Bob K) throw up some dust. The wind on the ground was nil.
Meanwhile, I ran into some light lift and went around for 3K feet.
Sent the chase on down the road. Eventually had to land at the turn
off to the Candelaria ghost town. Nice landing: 46
miles.
Down the road a bit we found Bob S across the road
from the Playmate Ranch. We discussed having a quick beer while we
waited for Bob to break down, but chickened out. We left Bob to
break down and went up to Mina where Matt had come down. Then to
Luning for Kurt and Rich (70 miles). Made it back to Bishop for Thai
food (yee haaaaa...!).
Monday, we were all going home. A wx
system was coming through and cummies were popping all over in the
morning. On the way out of Bishop about 10 AM, I saw a huge anvil
cloud back in the valley!
Thanks to everyone that drove and
especially to Kurt for the use of his monster truck.
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Vince
(9/4/01 7:01:08 pm)
|
Owens
Trip
How was the Owens? Expensive. I had about $1200 worth of stuff in
my bag that I lost (digital camera etc.), Nancy backed into a rock and
crushed the right side and bumper of the truck. Then on the way home
she forgot she was towing a trailer and backed up, jackknifed the
trailer, crushed the left side and bumper, broke off the propane
tanks (thankfully no leaks), twisted the tongue, and dented the
trailer. I figure it was about a $5,000 weekend.
The flying
was OK. I flew from Walt's all three days. The farthest flights on
Friday and Saturday were in the 60 to 70 mile range (I managed 67.5
and 62.5). The lift on Friday was weaker than I am used to seeing on
the Sierras. I slowed down a bit and worked what I could. It was
temping to race Kurt up the range, but I was able to quell the urge.
It paid off. I made it across the valley to Black at 7,000'. I
caught a nice thermal to 9,000 that was drifting at 20 to 30 mph. I
drifted over the side of Black and got in the worst rotor of my life
(it seems like I say that every time I fly there). I headed away
from Black and over to the foothills. I never did catch any more
thermals and just drifted in mild sink to a couple of miles north of
Laws.
Saturday we all flew from Walt's again. I got stuck
low on the second ridge from launch (Owens Point) and watched helplessly as at
least 8 gliders passed overhead and got right up. I finally got out
of there and headed on up range. I was able to fly with Rich for
several ridges, which was fun. He headed off low and I decided to
stay and get higher. He tried the crossing to Black and landed in
front of Black. The winds on the ground were strong south like
yesterday and I decided to try to fly over Bishop instead of over to
Black. I landed in the last field south of town.
Sunday was a
one in fifty day. We all were at launch before 9:00 am. It was
blowing down, but hell, it was only 9:00 AM. Almost everyone packed
it up and headed for the other side of the valley. I decided to stay
and see if anyone showed up with my equipment bag. There were only
about 8 gliders left at launch. Steve Rudy launched first at 10:25,
then Bill on a Talon at 10:30. I launched at 10:35. It was much
smoother than Friday or Saturday. I got stuck at that same second
ridge from launch. This time I figure out a better way to get up and
only spent 5 minutes low. Steve had gotten very low, he was below
the road to Whitney Portal but managed to get back up. Bill and I
flew together for quite a while (OK, I pimped him for several ridges).
I got ahead of everybody by Tinamaha and was about 1,000' above.
This is where I made a stupid decision. I was worried about the
winds at Black. I tried to get hold of some of the boys on Piute
for a wind report but no one answered. I went ahead and followed the
cloud street north. I was 500' below cloud base, 15,500' at Birch. I
flew over Coyote airstrip and then to hills just above Bishop. I was
at 12,500' a couple of miles short of Bishop. I then hit sink that
was like the sink I was in on Memorial Day, but this time it did not
end until 500' agl. I only managed a 5-mile glide! I landed across
the highway from Laws. Steve Rudy made it across at Black and worked
it low until about Laws where he got up on the Whites. Bill on the
Talon made it across at 10,800 and got right up over Black and
pretty much dolphin flew down the Whites to the 100 mile mark. He
then turned around and tried to make it back to Walt's for a 200
mile out and return. He made it as far as Tinamaha. Steve made it to
Mina for 142 miles.
Vince
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highhuber
(9/10/01 11:35:09
am)
|
Flight Report
Slide Mt. 9/8-9/9
Sat. was very stable with a major inversion which nobody could
bust, Greg got the highest around 10G I think . I got over launch to
around 9200 a couple of times. After 2 hrs. I went over a top landed
because my truck was on launch and I didn't want Kurt to have to
drive me back up. It was pretty easy, coming in over the paragliding
launch and chalet, then up the slope of the ski run. I should have
had the bar stuffed but came in slow and dropped the nose as it was
cross wind at 8300 ft.
Sun. was looking like a repeat of Sat. but I
managed to work my way over the top to 10G then searched around and
found enough to break thrrough the inversion at 12G. Soon I was at
14.5 wishing I'd of kept my oxygen on board. I decided to try for an
out and return to the south but was fighting a SW wind and got low
at #50. Some nice cues were forming above me but I couldn't find the
lift and landed in a beautiful meadow just north of the hwy.
probably 15 mi. as I was using Leo's vario and GPS as I had left mine
on all nite and the battery was quite dead. hh
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Vince
(9/10/01 5:54:38 pm)
|
Flight Report
Slide Mt.
I flew over Slide at 12:50 (in my airplane) and saw several pilots coring sink. Two
were in the bailout. There were thermals at 800 to 1000 fpm all down
the Sierras, but they were far apart, too far for a hang glider to
connect. I only hit three between Slide and Heavenly. The recon was
successfull. If all goes well, we might have a new good
site.
Vince
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Leo
Jones
(9/24/01 9:24:11 am)
|
St. John - after
the fire
Matt, Jon, Bob Stanley, Scot and I went to St John and flew
Saturday, the 22nd. Launch conditions were easy, but thermals were fairly
small and lift sparse under a lot of high cloud. Jon landed at
Bungalow Bill's, Matt at the "Bee Field" and Bob, Scot, and I made
it to town. A paraglider from Potato Hill also made it to
town.
The fire damage begins about a mile west of Bungalow
Bill's. Both sides of the road are completely blackened, down into
Stony Creek canyon and much of Black Diamond. As you go down into
Davis Flat area almost the whole valley is completely burned - in
some cases it's just black ash with dots of white ash where the
trees and bushes were. This extends up the entire east flank of Snow
Mountain, the cabins and houses there are gone together with the
forest. There are a few trees left around Davis Flat and in the
canyon, but the valley going up to St John Mountain is completely
devastated - almost nothing left, a veritable moonscape in places.
This zone of complete destruction goes about two thirds up the
mountain to where the big pine trees start, then it is patchy. Most
of the old growth Ponderosa pine forest survived with minor
scorching.
The fire burned all the way up to the road, and up
to our ramp. The ramp is fine, bushes below the ramp are all burned, but
surprisingly the tree out in front with the streamer is untouched.
The trees in our set-up area are a bit scorched but mostly OK, but
the ground under them is blackened. The fire burned round the west
flank of the mountain, down into the valley and up Crockett peak,
but not severely except for small patches. It seems that this
unlogged "old growth" forest really is a lot more resistant to fire.
Some patches are burned, and nearly all the bushes and much of the
scrub oak is gone but most of the trees have survived. The bushes
below the west launch are unscathed, although most of the scrub oak
around there is gone, right up to the road. The same goes for the NE
flank of Snow which looks to be almost unscathed. Close inspection
through binoculars revealed that the fire did in fact burn through
there, but only as a low intensity ground fire.
We camped up
on top. Sunday morning was windy and cool. Launch conditions would
have been a two stepper, but no one was particularly thrilled by
the soaring prospects, so no one flew.
If you land in the
visitor's center fields now, ensure that you wear black and fly a
black glider - you will anyway by the time you break down and get
out!
Leo
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Hangfly
(9/24/01 9:20:28 am)
|
Hull
Report 9/22-23
Saturday autumn decended on the mountain while some of us were in
the air. It came shortly after 4:00pm. Earlier in the flight
conditions were rough but good. Pilots were getting well over
10,000'. Then high clouds started moving through and the lift became
weak and sparse. It was easy enough to stay over 8K' but hard to get
there. Rich was up over three hours.
There were around 15 pilots
each day.
Sunday saw much stronger and more easterly winds. I
launched first at 1:25 followed by John DeAguiar. Nobody else
launched for at least another two hours. Then three pilots flew
(Ernie Camacho, Bob Kanick - a transplanted Colorado pilot who came
with Ernie, and another pilot from the Bay Area).
Most people bagged it. There was some lift but it was torn up and
drifting hard out of the east. Penetration was an issue. I just made
the LZ. John made the airstrip. The wind backed off and went more
south by the time the later pilots flew.
Welcome to Fall
flying.
Charley
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Vince
(9/30/01 9:40:07 am)
|
Slide, 9/29-30
The weather looked OK for Slide (near Reno, NV) although the
soaring report did not look very good. There were about 10 gliders
at launch by 11:30. Several paragliders were launching and staying
up, though none looked like they were getting above the top of the
mountain. At 12:15 a southern California pilot named Wayne launched.
He went too all of the usual thermal spots close to the hill but
found nothing and slowly sunk. He found a great thermal out in front
of launch about halfway between launch and the house thermal spot.
He was soon above launch. A couple of other pilots launched and were
managing to stay about launch level, occasionally getting above
launch. I launched about 12:45. I was trying to get my feet in the
harness, flying straight out from launch when I found a decent
thermal, about 500 fpm. I rode this to 9,000' and headed to the
south side of Slide. Working this side I made it to 9600' and could
see that Wayne had landed in the meadow behind slide.
I
tried to get higher but slowly sank to 9300'. Looking back toward
launch I saw that all the paragliders and most of the hang gliders
were now below launch. I figured I would head south down the Sierras
even though I was lower than the tops. The wind was forecast to be
out of the northeast. When I got to the ridge south of Slide, there
was no lift. I was down to 8500'. I headed toward Washoe valley and
hit a weak thermal in the valley between the foothills and the
Sierras. I made it back to 9100'. I headed south again above this
valley and about every 2 miles I hit another weak thermal back to
9000'. I thought I could make it all the way to the end of Carson
valley like this. But it was not to be. By the end of Washoe lake
the thermals stopped and it was a glide to Carson City. There are 4
really nice fields about ½ mile west of town where I landed in no
wind. About 5 minutes after I landed the wind picked up and I could
feel thermals blowing though. I think I launched about 45 minutes
early, but you can never tell. It was a nice flight with beautiful
scenery. The fall colors are in full brilliance in the Sierras. 11.3
miles.
I did not have a driver for Sunday so I headed home to
catch up on some honeydo's.
Vince
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Mike
K
(10/3/01 4:37:52 pm)
|
Hull report,
9/29-30
Both Saturday and Sunday there were enough pilots for 2 trucks. On
Sat the wind was from the E-NE with everybody launching from the
turn in the road at the top of the mountian. I launched first and
survived in small, punchy thermals coming out of Rattlesnake Canyon
behind lower launch. Later it got better and several pilots,
including myself, got to about 8500 over the top. I was up the
longest at just over 2 hours.
Sunday had the prevailing wind at
SE and one truckload of pilots launched at lower while the other at
the (former) propane tank. My first thermal took me to 11,200ft.
with lots of drift over the back. The highest I got was 11,400 over
Monkey rock, but I had to burn up lots of altitude to penetrate
South. The SE headwind must have been 20 mph. Monday was even warmer
and the cummies, with an East drift, looked terrific and had a
exceptionaly high base. However, I was working all day and did not
fly. Its still good flying here!
|
Leo
Jones
(10/7/01 7:39:13 pm)
|
Epic (non
flying) day at St Helena - 10/6
Matt, Jon and I went. We said hello to Martin, Rodica and pack of
friendly dogs at Pierre's. It was just about flat calm on top, well
maybe a light 3mph northerly with a 1 mph rotor up the face. Didn't
seriously consider flying. Even the Zagi kept plummeting! Warm
though. Saw a pair of peregrine falcons.
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Vince
(10/8/01 7:08:05 am)
|
Non-flight
report :-(
Nancy and I arrived at the top of St. John by 3:00 PM Friday the 5th. The
wind at the ramp was straight in between 5 and 8 mph. Not enough
time for a flight but encouraging. Saturday the wind was out of the
north all day. Sunday was almost the same with just a little more
west. None of the launches were working. Oh well. The camping was
great. The temperatures stayed above 50 at night and about 70 in the
day.
The only down side was the amount of hunters. There
were about 20 on St. John. None that we passed on the road seemed to
have a clue about rules of the road. Nancy was worried about a drunk
near-sighted hunter shooting the dogs so she tied about 20’ of
orange streamer material around each one. The fire damage was not as
much as I had expected. There is still a lot of green, although most of
the trees and brush up the road to the top are burned. Amazingly,
there were 6” to 12” green shoots growing at the base of a quite a
few trees and bushes that had burned. They graded the middle third
of the road so it is a lot quicker to get up the mountain.
On the way out Sunday, the forest service was performing a
land use survey at the visitor’s center. They were stopping all cars
leaving the area. It was a bad time of year for such a survey.
Luckily, they will have one visitor there for hang gliding. 95% of
all the other cars were hunters. This will greatly skew the figures.
Vince
|
Hangfly
(10/21/01 11:24:17 pm)
|
Hull Flight
Report - 10/20-21
Sunday the fun meter was in the extreme range at Hull. Five pilots
flew (me, Greg Sugg, Ernie Camacho, Albert Branson and Todd Robinson).
Although no one got over 8K' it was big fun flying. We used
ridge lift, convergence and thermals. Three of us sank to the basin
before getting back up in convergence. All the lift was smooth and
plentiful. Flights were over two hours. Skies were clear and the
wind was WSW about 8 to 15 mph.
Saturday was just barely soarable
for a brief period due to overcast. Seven pilots flew
(Paul Sussman, Doug Carmichael, Roy Wormington, Ernie Camacho, Kurt Bainum, Greg Sugg, and me).
Gunter hung out in the LZ both days to give us wind info. and share in the B.S.
Charley
|
highhuber
(11/4/01 9:14:41 pm)
|
Hull Flying - 11/4
Justin and I got to the top at the rock pile about noon. It was cycling up
and getting stronger, the sky was clear and we could see Mt. Lassen very
clearly. Justin launched first with me right on his tail, at 1:15. We
found moderate lift over Lower Launch and worked it up to a couple hundred
over the top, the wind was west about ten and the thermals were punchy on
this part of the mt. After about a 1/2 hour of doing this a few times
Justin got popped a little more than he was comfortable with and he headed
out over Timberline and down the ridge. I stayed above Lower Launch but
could never gain enough to get me over the top of the mt. After about an
hour I got below Lower Launch and worked it in front of Timberline for
minimal gain. Started heading for the lake and hit the best thermal of the
day near Red Spot, 700up which took me to 7800 with a redtail showing me
the way. I pulled on the vg and headed back for the top which I made and
worked a little lift there with Shasta now visible. Eventually sunk out
and repeated the cycle again with a thermal to 7500 at Red Spot. Justin was
on the ground after about an hour flight and he got on my motorcycle and
headed back up to retrieve my truck. I flew back to the top and then sunk
out and back to Red Spot and back up and was just getting over the top when
Justin arrived, gained enough there to take me over to Windy Ridge but
nothing much happening there. Cruised down wind to Red Spot but not much
happening there either so over to The House where I caught a little
something for 600 ft. gain. Headed down the ridge toward the airport and
found some bouyant air and then 300 up which I worked for 1500 ft.gain.
Justin was about a half hour from getting down so decided to boat around
till he got there which was pretty easy at about 5000ft. Finally put it
down around 4:05 for 2:50mn. A beautiful late season day at Hull Mt. hh
|
Leo
Jones
(11/4/01 10:29:58 pm)
|
St Helena - 11/4
Jon, Matt, Kurt,Greg John B and I were there. We put a windsock up in
Jane Campbell's field, and wondered if conditions would allow us to
launch. When we got to launch it was warm and blowing right in at 5 -8mph
in very nice cycles.
Kurt took off first at about 1pm and boated around in front for while,
before very gradually losing it. I went next and found there was enough
thermal activity over the spine to the right of launch to stay up. Greg
followed and I then found a reasonable thermal that took me up to over
5100ft, but that was likely the best of the day. Everyone soared for a
while though and had pleasant flights of half an hour to nearly an
hour.
There was almost no wind in the LZ - an occasional 1-3 mph NW but we all
had good landings. Jane came out to watch Greg and John land and then took
a ride with us up the mountain when we did the retrieve, which she seemed
to enjoy very much - thanks Jon.
A very pleasant November day.
Leo
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Charlie Nelson
(11/11/01 11:43:36 am)
|
Re: Flying this
weekend - 11/10-11
Five pilots flew Drakes yesterday Sat. and all got good flights til 1:15
pm when the rain hit. I launched at 1:00 sharp, got to the far west end
cliff, the wind was SE25-28 and straight in , where the lift was
alternating fat / turbulent, to 700msl. It started pouring rain. I got
soaked to the skin, flew back east, rain slacked off after 1/2 hour, wind
changed to sw and I got out to the East end cliffs. The Laminar topless
was stalling and diving in the turn, being so wet. It's probably good at
Drake's today, SE again, just wear your goretex jacket and dive in hard
to land it, and blow those pesky droplets off.
|
Hangfly
(11/20/01 10:50:26 pm)
|
St. John work party
report
Our work party with the Forest Service on Sunday 11/18 went great. We cleared fence,
spread jute and hay, drove rebar spikes and spread more hay.
About 15 para and hang glider pilots showed up along with a like number of
other folks, mostly MX bikers. Sonoma Wings had eight members in
attendance.
The meteor shower Saturday night was quite spectacular. Five of us camped
next to the Fouts LZ and struggled to stay awake 'till two in the morning. We
were rewarded by seeing countless meteors with long thick trails and
double meteors. It was very relaxing lying on the lounger under a sleeping
bag under the stars people were dozing and waking for about two hours.
Once while I was dozing I was awaken by the exclaimation "WOW! that
was a triple". After that I went to bed.
The Forest Service seemed a little surprised that we had such a good
showing for work that was in mainly "motorcyclist campgrounds".
Thanks to everyone who showed up: Ernie Camacho, Bob Storms, Bob Stanley,
Greg Sugg, Rob ?, Leo Jones, Matt Jagelka and Charley Warren.
CW
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